Witnesses say Tuite in Crowe neighborhood on night of killing

SAN DIEGO -- A string of witnesses told jurors Thursday that
they saw a man they believed to be Richard Raymond Tuite in or near
the neighborhood where 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe was stabbed to
death. And, the witnesses all said, those sightings were in the
hours before the child was discovered dead.

Tuite, a mentally ill transient, is charged by prosecutors with
murdering Stephanie on Jan. 20, 1998, in her bedroom. Horrified
family members found the seventh-grader on the floor of her bedroom
the next morning.

Thursday marked the first day of witness testimony in Tuite's
trial, and the first day of the prosecution's case against the
34-year-old Tuite.

Two witnesses told the jury they saw a man they believe was
Tuite stabbing at the air while having an angry conversation with
no one that night. In addition, two former Valley Center Road
residents said they saw a man -- whom they identified as Tuite --
near their home. They said the man was "spooky" enough that they
called police. And a fifth person said he confronted Tuite face to
face after he caught him peering into the window of his rural home
near the Crowe home.

Prosecutors say Tuite killed Stephanie as he wandered around the
child's Escondido neighborhood, "obsessed" with finding a friend
named Tracy, who may have borne some resemblance to the young
victim.

Defense attorneys argue that Stephanie's teenage brother and his
two buddies committed the murder. The teenage trio was originally
charged with the crime, but the charges were later dropped.

On Thursday, Special Assistant Attorney General David Druliner
eased into his case.

Jurors heard from a witness who said a man she believed to be
Tuite was "acting unusually" and stabbing the air with an object in
the hours before the little girl died six years ago.

"He was very animated and having an angry conversation with
someone who was not there," said Rebecca Jane McCaslin, a science
teacher at Hidden Valley Middle School in Escondido. "One hand was
pointing, the other was waving around."

Tuite 'normally quiet'

McCaslin recognized the man as a transient she had seen around
town before. She said the transient, who she identified as Tuite
when shown his photo, was "normally quiet and lurking in the
bushes." But on the day in question, when McCaslin and her son saw
the man standing on a street corner at Date Street and East Grand
Avenue in Escondido, he was different.

"Never had I seen him put on a performance like that," she
said.

McCaslin's son Trevor -- 13 years old at the time of the
incident -- testified that he was "positive" the man was holding a
pen in his hand when he was stabbing at the air.

When produce-stand owner Sharon Thomas took the stand, she spoke
of having seen a man walking through a church parking lot on Valley
Center Road.

She said the man was "yelling very loud, cussing," but was
talking to no one in particular.